Consumer confidence posted its third consecutive monthly gain in October, rising to its highest level since July 2007. The October gain was due to improved personal finances as well as a more favorable outlook for the overall economy. Indeed, consumers reported the most favorable personal financial expectations as well as the most ...

Compensation costs for civilian workers increased 0.7 percent, seasonally adjusted, for the 3-month period ending September 2014, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Wages and salaries (which make up about 70 percent of compensation costs) increased 0.8 percent, and benefits (which make up the remaining 30 percent of ...

For the week ending October 18 2014, the DJ-BTMU U.S. Business Barometer dipped by 0.2 percent to 98.1 as most indexes extended their weakening trend. Chain store sales fell by 0.3 percent, after a loss of 0.8 percent in the prior week. In the same line, MBA’s purchase index dropped by a solid 4.8 percent, extending the negative trend for ...

In the week ending October 25, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 287,000, an increase of 3,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 283,000 to 284,000. The 4-week moving average was 281,000, a decrease of 250 from the previous week's revised average. There ...

Real gross domestic product -- the value of the production of goods and services in the United States, adjusted for price changes -- increased at an annual rate of 3.5 percent in the third quarter of 2014, according to the "advance" estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the second quarter, real GDP increased ...

Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in September suggests that economic activity is expanding at a moderate pace. Labor market conditions improved somewhat further, with solid job gains and a lower unemployment rate. On balance, a range of labor market indicators suggests that underutilization of labor resources ...

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index®, which had decreased in September, rebounded in October. The Index now stands at 94.5 (1985=100), up from 89.0 in September. The Present Situation Index edged up from 93.0 to 93.7, while the Expectations Index increased sharply to 95.0 from 86.4 ...

Fifth District manufacturing activity expanded in October, according to the most recent survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Shipments and the volume of new orders grew robustly this month, while manufacturing employment growth continued at a moderate pace. Average wages rose modestly and the average workweek shortened slightly ...

Data through August 2014, released today by S&P Dow Jones Indices for its S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, the leading measure of U.S. home prices, continue to show a deceleration in home price gains. The 10-City Composite gained 5.5% year-over-year and the 20-City 5.6%, both down from the 6.7% reported for July. The National Index gained ...

New orders for manufactured durable goods in September decreased $3.2 billion or 1.3 percent to $241.6 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau announced today. This decrease, down two consecutive months, followed an 18.3 percent August decrease. Excluding transportation, new orders decreased 0.2 percent. Excluding defense, new orders decreased ...

The International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) and Goldman Sachs Weekly Chain Store Sales Index increased 2.8% for the week ending October 25 - relative to the prior year. On a week-over-week basis, sales increased 0.3%.

"Business over the past week was strong at department stores, wholesale clubs and electronics stores," said Michael Niemira, ICSC research consultant. "While the receding gasoline prices may not have a massive impact week-to-week, the cumulative effect should strongly ...

Texas factory activity increased again in October, according to business executives responding to the Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey. The production index, a key measure of state manufacturing conditions, fell from 17.6 to 13.7, indicating output grew but at a slightly slower pace than ...

Pending home sales rose slightly in September and are now above year-over-year levels for the first time in 11 months, according to the National Association of Realtors®.

The Pending Home Sales Index,* a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings, inched 0.3 percent to 105.0 in September from 104.7 in August, and is now 1.0 percent higher than September 2013 (104.0). The index is above 100 for the fifth consecutive month and is at ...

Sales of new single-family houses in September 2014 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 467,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is 0.2 percent (±15.7%) above the revised August rate of 466,000 and is 17.0 percent (±20.6%)* above ...

Tenth District manufacturing activity grew at a modest pace in October, and producers’ optimism for future activity remained solid. Firms continued to note difficulties in attracting and retaining certain key workers, particularly machinists and welders. Most price indexes were down slightly from the ...

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for the U.S. increased 0.8 percent in September to 104.4 (2004 = 100), following no change in August, and a 1.1 percent increase in July.

“The LEI picked up in September, after no change in August, and the strengths among its components have been very widespread over the past six months,” said Ataman Ozyildirim, Economist at The Conference Board. “The outlook for improving employment and further income growth ...

For the week ending October 11 2014, the DJ-BTMU U.S. Business Barometer remained at the same level, 98.3, from the prior week as negative performances of consumption indexes were cancelled out by gains in productions indexes. Both chain store sales and MBA’s purchase index dipped by 0.7 percent, following a recovery in the previous week. As ...

In the week ending October 18, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 283,000, an increase of 17,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 2,000 from 264,000 to 266,000. The 4-week moving average was 281,000, a decrease of 3,000 from the previous week's revised average. This ...

Led by improvements in production-related indicators, the Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) rose to +0.47 in September from –0.25 in August. Three of the four broad categories of indicators that make up the index made positive contributions to the index in September, and three of the four categories increased ...

The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 0.1 percent in September on a seasonally adjusted basis, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Over the last 12 months, the all items index increased 1.7 percent before seasonal adjustment.

Increases in shelter and food indexes outweighed declines in energy indexes to result in the seasonally adjusted all items increase. The food index rose 0.3 percent as five of the six major grocery store food group indexes increased. The energy index declined 0.7 percent as ...

Real average hourly earnings for all employees fell 0.2 percent from August to September, seasonally adjusted, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. This result stems from unchanged average hourly earnings combined with a 0.1 percent increase in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban ...

Mortgage applications increased 11.6 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending October 17, 2014. This week’s results did not include an adjustment for the Columbus ...

After a modest decline last month, existing-home sales bounced back in September to their highest annual pace of the year, according to the National Association of Realtors®. All major regions except for the Midwest experienced gains in September.

Total existing-home sales, which are completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, increased 2.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.17 million in September from 5.05 million in August. Sales are now at their ...

The International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) and Goldman Sachs Weekly Chain Store Sales Index increased 2.1% for the week ending October 18 - relative to the prior year. On a week-over-week basis, sales decreased by 0.3%.

"Business over the past week was strong for electronic stores, apparel stores, and discounters," said Michael Niemira, ICSC research consultant. "Gasoline prices remained low, down a hefty 7.1% from the same week of the prior year. Continuing to get a break at the pump ...

BUILDING PERMITS
Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in September were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,018,000. This is 1.5 percent (±1.1%) above the revised August rate of 1,003,000 and is 2.5 percent (±1.2%) above the September 2013 estimate of 993,000. Single-family authorizations in September were at a ...

The U.S. Department of the Treasury today released Treasury International Capital (TIC) data for August 2014. The sum total in August of all net foreign acquisitions of long-term securities, short-term U.S. securities, and banking flows was a monthly net TIC inflow of $74.5 billion. Of this, net foreign private inflows were $63.1 billion, and ...

Firms responding to the October Manufacturing Business Outlook Survey indicated continued growth in the region’s manufacturing sector this month. Most broad indicators of current growth, while positive, weakened from higher readings last month. The current activity, shipments, and employment indexes declined, while the index for new orders was ...

After four consecutive monthly gains, builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes fell five points to a level of 54 on the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI), released today.

We are seeing a return to the mid-50s index level trend established earlier in the summer, which is in line with the gradual pace of the housing recovery. ...

For the week ending October 4 2014, the DJ-BTMU U.S. Business Barometer picked up by 0.1 percent to 98.3, after declining for three weeks in a row. The recovery in this week’s barometer is driven by both consumption and production indexes. MBA’s purchase index surged 2.4 percent, in line with minor gains in chain store sales and freight ...

Industrial production increased 1.0 percent in September and advanced at an annual rate of 3.2 percent in the third quarter of 2014, roughly its average quarterly increase since the end of 2010. In September, manufacturing output moved up 0.5 percent, while the indexes for mining and for utilities climbed 1.8 percent and 3.9 percent, ...

In the week ending October 11, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 264,000, a decrease of 23,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 287,000. This is the lowest level for initial claims since April 15, 2000 when it was 259,000. The 4-week moving average was 283,500, a decrease of 4,250 from the previous ...

Reports from the twelve Federal Reserve Districts generally described modest to moderate economic growth at a pace similar to that noted in the previous Beige Book. Moderate growth was reported by the Cleveland, Chicago, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Dallas, and San Francisco Districts, while modest growth was reported by the New York, ...

The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that the combined value of distributive trade sales and manufacturers’ shipments for August, adjusted for seasonal and trading-day differences but not for price changes, was estimated at $1,353.4 billion, down 0.4 percent (±0.1%) from July 2014, but were up 4.5 percent (±0.6%) from ...

The Producer Price Index for final demand decreased 0.1 percent in September, seasonally adjusted, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Final demand prices were unchanged in August and advanced 0.1 percent in July. On an unadjusted basis, the index for final demand increased 1.6 percent for the 12 months ended ...

The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for September, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, were $442.7 billion, a decrease of 0.3 percent (±0.5%) from the previous month, but 4.3 percent (±0.9%) above September 2013. ...

The October 2014 Empire State Manufacturing Survey indicates that business activity grew modestly for New York manufacturers. The headline general business conditions index fell twenty-one points to 6.2, signaling that the pace of growth slowed significantly from last month. The new orders index dropped nineteen points to -1.7, indicating a ...

The International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) and Goldman Sachs Weekly Chain Store Sales Index increased 3.8% for the week ending October 11 - relative to the prior year. On a week-over-week basis, sales decreased by 0.7%.

"Business over the past week was strong across most segments - particularly at apparel stores and wholesale clubs," said Michael Niemira, ICSC research consultant. "With gasoline prices at their lowest point nationally since mid-November of last year, discretionary spending ...

September’s Optimism Index gave up 0.8 points, falling to 95.3. At 95.3, the Index is now 5 points below the pre-recession average (from 1973 to 2007). Four Index components improved, six declined. Two declined by 10 points total, accounting for the entire decline in the Index score. Unfortunately, the two that fell drastically were job ...

Prices for U.S. imports fell 0.5 percent in September, after declining 0.6 percent in August and 0.3 percent in July, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Each of the 3 monthly decreases was led by falling fuel prices. The price index for U.S. exports also declined in September, decreasing 0.2 percent following a 0.5-percent drop ...

The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that August 2014 sales of merchant wholesalers, except manufacturers’ sales branches and offices, after adjustment for seasonal variations and trading-day differences but not for price changes, were $453.9 billion, down 0.7 percent (+/-0.4) from the revised July level, but were up 5.8 percent (+/-1.8%) ...

For the week ending September 27 2014, the DJ-BTMU U.S. Business Barometer fell again by 0.1 percent to 98.2 as most indexes reported negative performances. Chain store sales declined by 0.2 percent mainly owing to underperformances in traditional grocery stores, online-only stores and office supply stores. As to the production side, almost ...

In the week ending October 4, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 287,000, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 287,000 to 288,000. The 4-week moving average was 287,750, a decrease of 7,250 from the previous week's revised average. This is ...

There were 4.8 million job openings on the last business day of August, up from 4.6 million in July, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The hires rate (3.3 percent) was down and the separations rate (3.2 percent) was essentially unchanged in August. Within separations, the quits rate (1.8 percent) was unchanged and the layoffs ...

The International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) and Goldman Sachs Weekly Chain Store Sales Index increased 3.9% for the week ending October 4 - relative to the prior year. On a week-over-week basis, sales increased by 0.1%.